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The rules of the 100,000-member-strong Sourtoe Cocktail Club are read to visitors.
(Liz Beddall)

The SourToe cocktail experience is considered a must-do for visitors to Dawson City.
(Liz Beddall)

By Liz BeddallSpecial to the Star

Wed., March 1, 2017

DAWSON CITY, YUKON-“You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but your lips must touch this gnarly toe.”

Toe Captain Dawn Kisoun, hard to miss in her vibrant Edmonton Oilers T-shirt, is reciting a line to me that’s been spoken at least 69,434 times at the Downtown Hotel in Dawson City. Surrounded by a flock of eager tourists in the Sourdough Saloon, she thrusts a black, shriveled, human toe into my face to a chorus of supportive cheers and groans.

“Remember, there is a $2,500 fine for anyone who swallows the toe,” warns Kisoun, before dropping the withered lump into a tumbler of Yukon Jack whisky.

The toe on hand tonight, while unquestionably disgusting, is small in comparison to its predecessors. Likely a second or third digit, this toe is one of several being kept in salt at the Downtown Hotel — each donated over time following medical procedures, frostbite and via one lawnmower accident.

The shrivelled appearance of the toe comes as a surprise to many, who often expect a plump, fresh digit.
(Liz Beddall)

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Having been reassured by a questionably sober local that the chief medical officer of the Yukon has signed off on the safety of the ritual, I lift the glass to my lips and gulp down this Dawson City concoction. Immediately I feel the nub of flesh dance upon my upper lip, and I question if I just felt the rim of the nail.

“Sometimes we do get them anonymously,” says hotel general manager Adam Gerle of the bar’s severed-toe supply. “They show up at our door step.”

Indulging in the Sourtoe Cocktail, or a drink of your choice garnished by a mummified human toe, has been considered a Dawson City must-do since the mid-’70s. Its recipe origins, however, date back to the 1930s prohibition era when, as legend has it, a Dawson City rumrunner enroute to the Alaskan border froze his big toe after stepping off his dogsled into an icy overflow. His brother, in an attempt to prevent gangrene, thwacked off the frozen digit with a wood-cutting axe and preserved it in a jar of alcohol, which Capt. Dick Stevenson discovered years later while cleaning out a cabin.

To commemorate the find, the Sourtoe Cocktail Club, which now boasts members from across the world, was born.

“I personally have never done it,” says Gerle. “I’ve served it numerous times and promoted it, but I’m waiting for the right time. I think it’s really gross.”

Sourtoe cocktail drinkers must agree to pay $2,500 on the spot if they swallow the body part. (Liz Beddall)

While summer visitors to the city are granted seven-days-a-week worth of opportunity to join the club, pinning down the stomach-turning experience during winter can be as precarious a task as chasing the northern lights. Tonight, Kisoun has made herself available after a call was put out in town for a last-minute stand-in for turn-of-the-century caricature and leading toe expert Capt. Terry Lee, who, rumour has it, has run away to the Philippines.

The primary toe of the past — a beastly unit with gnarly nail clearly visible — had unceremoniously been swallowed in 2013 by American visitor Josh Clarke, who quickly slapped down the then-$500 fine and walked out mysteriously into the night. The stunt, which went viral online soon after, received mixed reviews in Dawson.

“Terry is still very upset about it,” says Gerle, speaking of the dedicated Toe Captain who had been overseeing the tradition for years. “But it really jumpstarted the popularity of the Sourtoe club. To this day we get residual interest from it from around the world. Personally I think it was the best thing that could have happened to us.”

Liz Beddall downs the Sourtoe cocktail with no hesitation, giving the toe a kiss along the way.
(Liz Beddall)

Some of the others scream after indulging and others pump their fists in the air for comfort, but I down my Sourtoe with ease, rationalizing that this legendary tradition is perfectly befitting to my time in this strange and unforgettable town in the Yukon.

Liz Beddall was hosted by Tourism Yukon, which did not review or approve this story.

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